KEY TRENDS 

• A 1-metre rise in sea level would displace about 7 million people in India*
• Fossil fuel burning has contributed to most of the greenhouse gas emissions in the past 20 years*
• Global GHG emissions due to human activities have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70% between 1970 and 2004**
• The largest growth in GHG emissions between 1970 and 2004 has come from energy supply, transport and industry, while residential and commercial buildings, forestry (including deforestation) and agriculture sectors have been growing at a lower rate**
• India would face yield losses in rice and wheat along with fall in the rate of growth of gross domestic product owing to climate change***
• Increased occurrence of extreme events (such as cyclones) due to climate change will mostly affect the poor***

* Ministry of Environment, Government of India
** Climate Change (2007): Synthesis Report brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
*** Parikh, Kirit and Parikh, Jyoti (2002): Climate Change-India’s Perceptions, Positions, Policies and Possibilities, OECD